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Secret investigation into Walker aides closes

By ASSOCIATED PRESS   Friday, March 1, 2013 - 10:47 a.m.
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MADISON — A secret investigation into illegal campaign activity by former aides and associates of Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker closed last week with no charges filed against Walker.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm announced Friday that the so-called John Doe investigation into illegal campaign activity ended on Feb. 20, the same day Walker delivered his budget address to the state Legislature.

The investigation has hounded Walker — a possible 2016 presidential candidate — throughout his first two years in office. Walker steadfastly and repeatedly denied he had done anything wrong, even as six people around him were charged with crimes stemming from activity in the Milwaukee County executive’s office when Walker held that position.

Walker was county executive for eight years. The investigation began in May 2010, six months before he was elected governor.

The governor said he was glad the investigation is over.

“We appreciate the effort that was undertaken and to bring appropriate matters to justice,” Walker said in a statement issued through his campaign.

Walker hired high-profile criminal defense attorneys from Chicago, started a legal defense fund that grew to $200,000 through the end of 2012 and met voluntarily with prosecutors in April. He always maintained his innocence and said he did not know that county workers were illegally campaigning while on the job. Walker said he had built a firewall to ensure county workers were not ordered to do campaign work while on county time.

Democrats insisted that evidence uncovered during the investigation showed that Walker was involved in illegal campaigning.

“It’s not a feather in Scott Walker’s cap that he was not charged with a crime,” said Wisconsin Democratic Party spokesman Graeme Zielinski. “This is unprecedented in Wisconsin history and it speaks to the poor values of this governor.”

The people charged in the probe were:

— Kelly Rindfleisch: Walker’s deputy chief of staff. She was sentenced to six months in jail after pleading guilty to felony misconduct in office for doing campaign work on county time.

— Tim Russell: Walker’s deputy chief of staff, Russell, was sentenced to two years in prison in January after he was convicted of stealing more than $20,000 from a nonprofit group Walker appointed him to lead.

— Darlene Wink: The former Walker aide pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of working on Walker’s gubernatorial campaign on county time. She was sentenced to a year’s probation.

— Kevin D. Kavanaugh: Walker named Kavanaugh to the county Veterans Service Commission. Kavanaugh was found guilty of stealing more than $51,000 that had been donated to help veterans and their families. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

— William Gardner, president and chief executive officer of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co., was sentenced to two years’ probation in July after being found guilty of exceeding state campaign donation limits and laundering campaign donations to Walker and other Wisconsin politicians.

— Brian Pierick: The longtime domestic and business partner of Russell was found guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor after investigators examined his and Russell’s phones and computers. The criminal complaint said Pierick exchanged text messages with a 17-year-old boy and tried to entice him into his van, but the boy declined, according to the criminal complaint.




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(52)
nomoreres
Mar 2, 2013 at 12:28 p.m.
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And once again when he finds himself unable to defend his irrational spewing, he resorts to deflection, labeling and name-calling. 10,000+ posts without a hint of improvement. You go, RAF.

kidsfirst
Mar 2, 2013 at 12:11 p.m.
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to all you Walker loyalists -- not charged, does not mean innocent. In the very least he has proven himself a poor manager, that people working for him within feet of his office, could be breaking the law and he did not know it.

garyprimer
Mar 2, 2013 at 10:17 a.m.
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Conspiracyista.

meemaw
Mar 2, 2013 at 8:56 a.m.
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Take note: charges were dismissed on February 20th & was 'found out about' March 1st. $100 bet you they(recallista's in DA office) were trying to keep this hidden from the public to try to persuade the April 2 elections.

RetiredAirForce
Mar 2, 2013 at 8:54 a.m.
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The new left, nothing but OJ's.

meemaw
Mar 2, 2013 at 8:51 a.m.
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Remember all those liberal recallista's who predicted criminal convictions of Governor Scott Walker???? Now we still hear conspiratorial predictions. Laughing so hard it hurts!!! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Thank God for Scott Walker!!

nomoreres
Mar 2, 2013 at 8:45 a.m.
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RAF, you have such a difficult time with comments that don't meet your criteria. You really should work on that. Your interpretation of what I wrote is not what I wrote. But to help you understand, let's reverse your logic - unless you are charged you are not guilty of anything. You inserted "in a legal sense", not me. Now, let's check your credibility a little. Has anyone ever done anything they weren't charged with? Were they guilty of doing it (remember, not necessarily in a ("legal sense")? You stand to learn a great deal by not referring to the RAF dictionary, but rather a more reputable one such as Webster's.

garyprimer
Mar 2, 2013 at 8:12 a.m.
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There is a recall scheduled for 2014.

RetiredAirForce
Mar 2, 2013 at 7:59 a.m.
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nomoreres in our country, in a legal sense, guilt is only determined AFTER a person is charged. Using your perspective all people never charged with a crime are then on the same level as OJ...what a terrible point of view.

nomoreres
Mar 2, 2013 at 7:31 a.m.
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What RAF failed to grasp is that nomoreres never said Walker was charged, just that neither he nor OJ were found guilty.
"nomoreres displayed the current thinking of many on the left with this comment, "So, neither Walker nor OJ were found guilty"."
RAF failed to comprehend what was written and changed it to satisfy his thinking, something he often likes to do.

helge1939
Mar 2, 2013 at 6:33 a.m.
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Money talks

oldvet
Mar 2, 2013 at 6:19 a.m.
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Intelligent people knew from the start that Walker would not be charged. What will you try next Walker haters? Maybe another recall election? LOL

RetiredAirForce
Mar 2, 2013 at 5:20 a.m.
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nomoreres displayed the current thinking of many on the left with this comment, "So, neither Walker nor OJ were found guilty".

What nomoreres failed to grasp OJ was "charged" with a crime after a full investigation then found not guilty by a jury. The investigation by Chisholm found nothing to charge Walker with, even with the help of all those people in his office that signed the recall petition.

For some insight into the loony nature of the Wisconsin dem party a person only needs to look at the comments of their special spokesperson Mr Z. https://twitter.com/gjzielinski

RetiredAirForce
Mar 2, 2013 at 4:06 a.m.
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Red if you "claim" you want to idict for a person passing a budget why not indict a person(s) for not passing one and costing tax payers MORE money? Uh oh there goes that consistency problem you, and your side, have on most every issue.

analertcitizen
Mar 2, 2013 at 12:01 a.m.
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They may not have found anything that Walker did was illegal but to have HOW many felons as your top aides points dramatically to his decision making ability. Sad really.

PanamaRed
Mar 1, 2013 at 11:08 p.m.
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"If you're disappointed that they couldn't find a reason to indict Walker, you need to do some soul searching."
-
Can we indict Walker for proposing a budget with $188 million of unfunded liabilities? Or signing a mining bill that will likely cost WI taxpayers $170 million? Or not creating the jobs he promised?
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Instead, lets join with billnewbie and celebrate Walker's incredible ineptitude!

ninja11
Mar 1, 2013 at 10:48 p.m.
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Janesville, love the thought, BUT we need a minority status to compete in 2016 election. Remember why Romney lost, he said. " If I am elected I will put people to work " Unfortunately 51 % of the population said " I do not want work " So they voted for ODAMA. Pathetic.

janesvillecomments
Mar 1, 2013 at 9:50 p.m.
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Next stop: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue! ☺

wislady
Mar 1, 2013 at 8:07 p.m.
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Add to the list...the GAB, and why they are not following Wisconsin State Law.

wislady
Mar 1, 2013 at 8 p.m.
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Governor Walker repeatedly stated that he was not part of the John Doe. Now that this is done, it is time to take a look at the DA's office and see how "broken" that is. Chrisholm should be the one answering some questions.

dtb
Mar 1, 2013 at 7:33 p.m.
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Once again you've missed the point - his own words make him as guilty as any one of the 6.

wislady
Mar 1, 2013 at 6:18 p.m.
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dtb
I guess that is why Walker had his office contact the authorities when the money was missing from the veterans fund.

dtb
Mar 1, 2013 at 5:27 p.m.
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Apparently at one time, Walker felt that the crimes of the Governor's political aides are the crimes of the Governor as well. Wonder how he feels about that now?

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquart...

wiggle
Mar 1, 2013 at 5:22 p.m.
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So what happens to the 140,000.00 in contributions to his defense fund? Does he give that 'unneeded' money back? Does he put that money towards a new kitchen? Nah he puts it in his pocket and creates a law to help the contributors!

Jasper
Mar 1, 2013 at 5:10 p.m.
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To all you libs out there... Here is a box of tissues.

nomoreres
Mar 1, 2013 at 5:03 p.m.
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So, neither Walker nor OJ were found guilty.

ninja11
Mar 1, 2013 at 4:29 p.m.
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The main reasons you lefties have a hard time and can not comprehend he is clean is because you lefties are so corrupt and dishonest you think everybody is like that to.

fordfan
Mar 1, 2013 at 3:56 p.m.
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This proves that Governor Walker is as pure as the driven snow.........in an over-crowded barnyard!

Third_Eye
Mar 1, 2013 at 3:45 p.m.
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Headline: Witch Hunt Ends, No Witches Found.
Sub Headline: 6 were found practicing witchcraft.

wislady
Mar 1, 2013 at 2:54 p.m.
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Secret? It was in the headlines for the past two years.

Pastafarian
Mar 1, 2013 at 2:37 p.m.
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http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/r...
"After a review of the John Doe evidence, I am satisfied that all charges that are supported by proof beyond a reasonable doubt have now been brought and concluded," Chisholm said in a statement. "As a consequence, last week my office petitioned for, and Judge Nettesheim has granted, the closure of the John Doe investigation."
Walker was not vindicated, he just has "plausible deniability".
He took a page from saint Ronny and Iran-Contra.

billnewbie
Mar 1, 2013 at 2:10 p.m.
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So the Democrat who is D.A. of Milwaukee County dug for dirt for 2 years and still couldn't find anything to hang on Governor Walker. Yet the partisans who hoped so hard that Chisholm would put the Governor in jail just won't let go of that hope. They don't really care that the Governor never broke any laws. They just wanted him in jail. That speaks volumes of just what partisanship does to character. If you're disappointed that they couldn't find a reason to indict Walker, you need to do some soul searching.

axolotlsx5
Mar 1, 2013 at 1:46 p.m.
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the entire goverment of this country needs to be replaced, and all laws taking away our rights to be deemed unlawful.

nanaof9
Mar 1, 2013 at 1:36 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
carlitosway
Mar 1, 2013 at 1:25 p.m.
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He was the leader of the criminals and was in knowledge of their acts and to only bring it forward after the fact of it happening to protect his own #*#, makes him just as guilty. but then again you have his Buddy Van Hollen backing him Eventually he will get his.

one943
Mar 1, 2013 at 1:12 p.m.
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So is Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm now a Republican?

916WI
Mar 1, 2013 at 12:51 p.m.
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+1 on the yada comments......one benefit to this news, is that it will force that tool to crawl back into his hole for awhile:)

joker
Mar 1, 2013 at 12:33 p.m.
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oops art thou

joker
Mar 1, 2013 at 12:32 p.m.
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yada yada Where for out thou Yada? My guess is another screen name change is in order.

Bowlgal
Mar 1, 2013 at 11:59 a.m.
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I wish the left looked this hard on Obama. It wouldn't take long I'm sure if they did. Their is probably a few items buried within the liberal media hush hush closet.

An honest Republican they don't believe, but a Democrat who borders impeachable offenses they trust. Backwards.

RetiredAirForce
Mar 1, 2013 at 11:47 a.m.
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What? How?

But all those posters claimed he was going to jail...

jvilleone
Mar 1, 2013 at 11:34 a.m.
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Funny how all the stories always seem to forget to mention that it was the Milwaukee County Walker administration that first contacted authorities with suspicions Honor Flight contributions were being funneled off that started the 2 1/2 year long "secret investigation".

The only thing secret about the investigation was when Chisholm was finally going to end it.

dtb
Mar 1, 2013 at 11:13 a.m.
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You are judged by the company you keep.

Badgerlvr
Mar 1, 2013 at 11:11 a.m.
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"Teflon Scott" does it again!

ninja11
Mar 1, 2013 at 11:08 a.m.
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The left has been hoping for a different outcome for a long time, Now what are they going to do ? For all you lefties that were giving all those left slanted links. I say buy A big box of Kleenex.

Third_Eye
Mar 1, 2013 at 11:06 a.m.
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That hissing you hear is the air coming out of Yada's balloon.

Hardtobelieve
Mar 1, 2013 at 10:55 a.m.
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"A possible 2016 Presidential candidate"? Are you kidding me? Which country would that be? That would be the BEST the GOP could come up with?????? Give me a break.....

woody
Mar 1, 2013 at 10:49 a.m.
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It just goes to show who the gov surrounds himself with....

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